Friends Reunited violates own privacy policy to spam users

Hello Damien

You have received this email as a customer of our sister company, Friends Reunited.

Stared back at me from my inbox yesterday purporting to be from UK television company ITV. It was curious because I always de-select the marketing option. I visited Friends Reunited site to confirm the option was indeed off which it was. More interestingly it stated it would be for their own marketing messages, not third parties which their privacy policy clarified:

We, and (where relevant) our credit card processing agents, will not supply your personal data to a third party for commercial exploitation – thus, you can rest assured that we will not sell the lists of our Members’ email addresses to a third party; and

Yet here they are doing exactly what they claim not to.

Two subsequent emails to their support team resulted in one stating they have switched my third-party emailing option off (there is no such option, they claim never to do it at all) and when I clarified this for them another stating:

All members comments and suggestions are noted and passed onto our management team for consideration.

Such blatant disregard for their own policies and European regulation should not be ignored. If you live in the UK and a UK company is spamming you then complain to the Information Commissioners Office.

[)amien

2 responses

  1. Avatar for steve

    Tsk tsk.

    My guess is that their defence could be that this is no longer a '3rd party' since ITV are absorbing them. However, the deal hasn't even gone through yet, so it's jumping the gun a little even on that fairly weak argument...

    steve 12 December 2007
  2. Avatar for Damien Guard

    Yes but being that my preferences were already set not for Friends Reunited to market to me either and that in emails to me they have referred to ITV as a 3rd party...

    Damien Guard 12 December 2007